I don't think it's right that he rains on Farrah's parade and compromises the attention she was to receive. This was to be her moment. You'd think he could have timed his passing to coincide with Liz's impending departure, or at least give Farrah a little space.

One of my friends told me of Michael's death on the porch just now, and they had the biggest smile on their face when they did so. Maybe I'm just infected by their mood, but I'm happy too. Is it cathartic, because the children of the world are safe now, or because I'm just a bad person?

Either way, I am happy. I want a national holiday where we all go to a theme park or a circus.

Excuse me? Mental problems? This was a very calculating and controlling individual who cleverly planned out every aspect of his life, including obstructing the grief and remembrance of a celebrity far more popular than he was.

It seemed that the thing that people at first loved about him, being a man-child, is what later became what people most vilified him for. (And yes I don't believe there was any conclusive evidence that he was a child molester.)

Wow. This is sad, but part of me is happy for him. Appearances certainly showed a very unhappy man so maybe he's in a better spot than he was. (But appearances can be deceiving -- maybe he was happy and everything was an act).

What a phenomenal talent, though. Mesmerizing to watch, and a joy to listen to.

Michael is/was a brilliant singer who obviously had some terrible mental problems. My heart goes out to him.

I have to say, I've spent essentially my entire life laughing at him, and looking down on him somewhat, for his plastic surgery, his neurotic behaviour, and especially the way he seemed like he kind of might be a pederast, etc. But I did feel a surprising twinge of sympathy on reading that he had died.

I found this news shocking. This was a man who practically made it his life's work to attempt to live youthfully forever (oxygen tank, countless plastic surgeries, personal amusement park)- I thought he would remain alive and perfectly preserved forever.I did grow up in the 80's and always appreciated his music (and the great roller-rink memories it will always bring back)- which will live on for all time in his stead. I realized what a hard childhood he had had so it is no wonder he had problems. But many brilliant artists were troubled.RIP finally, Michael.

He was a cringemaker the past 15 years, but, as with Phil Spector, you can't erase his musical accomplishments, especially "Off the Wall," "Thriller" and "Bad," about as good a run as any performer had in the 80s.

It is strange; I'm not happy about it, but it seems a relief. He was not going to age well from here on considering how it was going already. It would have been torture for all involved, which is all of us unfortunately.

It took a few decades but Joe Jackson finally succeeding in killing his son.

Michael Jackson is an American tragedy, both for himself and the lives of some of the children whose lives he "touched."

Joe Jackson's abuse screwed up every one of his kid's lives, and it became a chain reaction.

I guess my feelings can best be described as relief. As other commenters have said, children are safe and that's always a good thing. On the other hand, for Michael Jackson this life always seemed like a constant painful struggle. It's finally over.

As a young teen, I played "Off the Wall (1979)" all the time. IMO, an even better album than "Thriller". Jackson was only 21 then. He looked normal then and it seemed his future was limitless.

There are many great artists and geniuses that decline and have latter lives that just don't match the hopes and accomplishments of early years. Nikola Tesla died broke, nuts, a bum. Fat Elvis died on a toilet. Dylan Thomas died a pauper alcoholic.

Like them, we should try and expel the kiddie-creepy stuff in his later years and remember the good, brilliant Jackson. The young boy that made Motown more than any other of Gordy's artists. The young man who was a true Superstar of undisputed talent and who made an indelible contribution to the musical arts, dance, and American culture.

God bless his troubled soul and may his transgressions be forgiven some day so that he can take his place singing and dancing with the angels..

All that talent, all that misery. His singing was fabulous in its top form, but I loved the dancing best. It takes huge discipline to dance like that. His demons must have been horrific to overwhelm that capacity for work.

Man, Sipp can write when he puts his mind to it. Even though that piece was written back in '06, when only Jackson's reputation needed an obituary, it reads like one hell of a great posthumous tribute now.

I have never commented before on this blog, but this thread is calling to me. I remember MJ in the Jackson Five. I loved the Jackson Five. I see Michael as never having a choice in how his life was lived. Yes, I do think his father abused him. I think when you are ten years old, you don't know what you want, and by the time you do it might be to late. I don't know, I am not a celebrity. I feel so sad that no family member was able to convince him that he needed help( I am assuming that). Having worked in mental health for several years it should be obvious to all that he had many issues. BE KIND!

From Robert Sandall's May 31, 2009 TimesOnLine article entitled, Will Michael Jackson survive his concert marathon?

Guy Holmes, the British music executive flown in to manage Two Seas, said later: “Michael’s an extraordinarily intelligent man, but sadly, his moral health is far worse than one could imagine.” Others go further. “Jackson tells barefaced lies without any regard for the consequences,” says his former legal representative.

I don't believe anyone, including me, said Michael Jackson wasn't responsible for his own actions.

But facts are stubborn things, and what Joe Jackson did to those kids is horrifying. If you so damage a child that he never truly becomes a man in any real sense of the word, do you get to disown any consequences of what you did the second that kid turned 18?

He may not have been legally liable for what Michael Jackson did as an adult, but there's no doubt that he deserves some of the blame.

Giving power to a child can be dangerous. Robbing a child of a normal childhood can be very destructive. Our culture helped destroy him. Imagine being a child with no friends and being expected to work at your game every day for fame and fortune as dictated by a parent.

He was a twisted soul and I feel sorry for him. Riches do not a happy man make.

"Madonna has had more staying power more hit songs but not more kids than Michael"

madonna? the difference between madonna and MJ is that MJ was, up until a certain point in his life, could sing and for much of his life could actually dance. madonna was purely a studio creation and could never do either.

i thought it was very astute consdiering other news from the day that they played

Billy Jean

when they announced his death.

People always told me be careful of what you doAnd dont go around breaking young girls heartsShe came and stood right by meThen the smell of sweet perfumeThis happened much too soonShe called me to her roomChorusBillie jean is not my loverShes just a girl who claims that I am the one

First reaction was shock and disbelief. Not a fan, but once dated someone who was. So, Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind ...

Then, "Uh-oh, the comparisons to Elvis and Lennon in 3-2-1 ... ". I think comparisons are arguably justifiable on basis of success but not necessarily talent or artistic impact.

Then, speaking of Lennon, when do Yoko and Macca start circling the estate? They had every reason to believe MJ would outlive them, but now's their chance. Betcha the phone lines are burning up between London and NY.

Both celebrities escaped my attention, though Michael Jackson in recent years has been the topic of countless hours of high rating John and Ken shows (``all outrage all the time'') on KFI Los Angeles, displacing whimsy, which is what they're actually good at.

I used to totally think he abused children, but due to the amount of money he had one can never be sure. He was never convicted. However, if he was YOUR brother or friend, wouldn't you have done something? I have some respect for Brittany Spears family, at least they all got together and had her admitted into a mental health facility....we can't say the same for MJ.

I was shocked when my fiance told me this today, but then I wondered why. MJ always seemed to be teetering on the edge of life, but I think I subconsciously and against all logic still expected him to be around for a couple more decades.

I'm sad too. There is a lot to be sad about.

I wonder what will happen to his children. I hope it's something good and safe, and for thier sakes, the less we all find out about it the better.

Jeremy wrote"Jackson was a gifted and successful musician, but he took advantage of and traumatized little kids."

While I don't know all of the trial record, it is my impression that there is no evidence of Jackson engaging in lewd/sexual acts with minors. I think there is a very good chance that he had a fascination with children and childhood that is hard for other adults like myself to understand.

I always hate that he was convicted in the public eye without corroborating evidence to back up the charge. I do remember that the prosecutor in his criminal case acted total inappropriately by trying the case in the public. That offended me as a liberal. I suspect that offend some others here as conservatives.

He was obviously a strange person. But the last time I checked we no longer burn people at the stake for witchcraft. Hard evidence is now the standard. Until it is brought forth I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

I before E, except after c, and when sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh (and their),and on weekends and holidays and all throughout May,and you'll always be wrong, no matter what you say!

And L. E. Lee said,

I think there is a very good chance that he had a fascination with children and childhood that is hard for other adults like myself to understand.

I agree; thanks for saying it so well. I think it's really possible that he just had no concept of how to relate appropriately to people as an adult, including children, because he was emotionally stunted by his life experience.

I have in my memory, and in my musical world, the young Michael Jackson. Up through "Off the Wall," he and the Jacksons were part of my musical world. I can separate that boy from the man he became, the same way I can do that for any abused child (and make no mistake, he was an abused child, as I think many, many child celebs are) who goes on to be an abuser.

"Well there is something seriously wrong when a grown man builds an amusement park in his backyard and has sleepovers with young boys."

If I were writing a novel where I could make anything up that I wanted to without any sort of proof... I'd put that his father castrated him to keep his voice high, and that the weirdness with children was either being stuck in that place of childhood or else a way to try to deal with not getting to be a father.

Yes, he was. And he was obviously taken advantage from day one, and by all accounts, abused by his father, and maybe others.

But that does excuse his abuse of others?

I just can't believe the outpouring of grief for this creepy little man who took children into his home, in many cases, with their parents along for the ride, so he could take advantage of their trust.

I don't care how many hit songs he had or how wonderful so many here think he was, he was a pedophile.

Jackson was never convicted of anything, and while he settled out of court with his first accuser's family, it is just as likely that he was falsely accused by people seeking money as it is that he actually did anything illegal. Therefore, I can't be certain of anything. And in that case, I choose to remember the incredible music and wonderful memories that he brought me and my family throughout the decades. RIP.

I never fully bought the idea that he molested boys. But he CLEARLY had some major issues with children and adulthood that were extremely unhealthy. So if he dind't molest them he still was in situations with children that were pretty twisted, and his life was a textbook example of how ultimate fame twists many people into warped monsters.

All the talk about Never Never land ranch, all the plastic surgeries, the elephant man bones, the monkies, the visits with Mcauley Kulkin, how could people let all that happen without pulling him aside and saying "mike you're becoming a freak, you need help". Instead he had sycophants who enabled his every whim and helped feed his insanity. He was a grown man having sleep overs with young boys and living in an amusement park!Power corrupts, but so does fame apparently.His death leaves me extremely disturbed and not because I idolized the guy. Rather, its a waste of potential. They happened to show a jackson 5 clip with him singing and he looks like a normal kid. Then they show him now and he looks like a plastic person with skin as white as clown makeup.

Then it got me thinking about Chastity Bono having a sex change operation. What the hell is wrong with people that they by choice have to mutilate themselves to the point that they dont even resemble themselves? There's some psychologic defect there that is just too sad.

@jr565 I promise you that anyone who confronts them about their weirdnesses gets cut out of their life immediately - until they are surrounded only by people they pay in one way or another. The sycophant parade isn't accidental.

At least he had that family of his - bizarre as they were. I'm hearing reports they were there (???).

"A record-shattering vinyl album and its moonwalking maestro. A paper poster of a golden-haired beauty in a one-piece swimsuit that was gossamer and clingy in all the right places."

"It all seems so quaint now, the fragmented dream memories of a fleeting micro-era that began with words like "bicentennial" and "pet rock" and ended with MTV, Atari and absurdly thin cans of super-hold mousse."

"The man-child named Michael Jackson and the luminous girl known as Farrah Fawcett-Majors jumped into our consciousness at a plastic moment in American culture — a time when the celebrity juggernaut we know today was still in diapers. When they departed Thursday, just a few hours and a few miles apart, they left an entire generation — a very strange generation indeed — without two of its defining figures."

"In the 1990s, members of Generation X would often laugh in bars about how the time of the Boomers was passing — about how the quaintness and naivete that made up the 1960s was, finally, a grave being danced on by Kurt Cobain. Today, members of that same generation sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings of pop."

"A sexy poster upon a boy's wall in which a young woman grins wholesomely. A record album called "Thriller" and its attendant music videos, built upon the notion that sexiness came in the frisson of hints and suggestions rather than in cutting directly to the big reveal."

"In the end, finally, they stand as the relics of a generation — one that struggled to find its place and now, suddenly, while still young, one that must wonder if it is as passe as the paper and vinyl that its icons' most memorable moments were etched upon."

One can't be pushed into music business at four years old and not be affected/infected. He was a beautiful child/boy - and morphed into, I don't know - and it is not for me to judge. May he find some peace now. I pray for his children to not get caught up in any of this media driven/star crazed crap.

She defines:"Fame is a perverse deformity, an ego swelling as ludicrous as an extra sex organ", and "Celebrity is a virulent killer of fundamental human values", and when one stops believing in celebrity, "the Emperor is a fat, naked freak, and it all looks sick and ridiculous."

Of Jackson she wrote:""Once upon a time there was a little boy named Michael Jackson, who was a child of incredible, otherworldly talent. Hammered into superstar condition by a merciless warlock of a father who purportedly belt-whipped his musical ambitions into the hides of his countless offspring. Michael was only six years old when his family's singing group, the Jackson Five, was signed to the Motown label. He developed an ecstatic, feral-bird quality in his prepubescent voice that transcended anything human; he possessed the kind of arm-hair-raising sublimity found only in little Anglican choir boys and castrati......Michael became very famous by the time he was only 12, and got truckloads of mail from wildly obsessed fan-boys and fan-girls all over the world who wanted to touch him, kidnap him, steal handfuls of his hair, and tear off his clothing and rub their bodies against them..."

She described Michael Jackson later with "the overaccessorized buckle-and-zipper ensembles which made him look like a rodeo dominatrix" and says:

"Jackson epitomizes the fullest scope of uber-fame in the United States. He's lived through the whole gauntlet: the best parts of it in his earlier years, the worst, humiliating and scandalous parts in the more recent. Anything Michael does now just reads like Outsider Art — he has become as strange and isolated and deranged as anyone who ever walked or crawled through shock treatment. He's the strangest uninstitutionalized crazy person in the public eye since Howard Hughes.".

"Liz Taylor, Diana Ross, and later Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe, the Mother of His Children, all seemed to care very deeply for Jackson while staying at least a six-hour plane trip away from him at all times."

She wrote that "The fame smothered [Elvis and Michael Jackson], overstimulating them into frightful husks of self abuse: they both had to vandalize themselves since the world could do naught but love them.".

For Wilson, Jackson became the dominant example of the hard truth that "Big Fame will fuck you, fuck you, fuck you in the head until there’s nothing between your ears but a sour, translucent jelly."

Obama is like Michael Jackson - childlike, naive, unwilling to live with a reasonable budget, black and white, both had a meteoric rise to stardom, both surrounded by sycophants and adoring fans, no criticism of The One/King of Pop is allowed and so on.

Not poor, nor tragic, nor sweet. Kate: "A "tragic childhood" is a 4 year old in Bangladesh with retinoblastoma. A "tragic life" is a Russian teenager sold into the sex trade.

Michael Jackson did not have a tragic childhood, nor did he have a tragic life.

He had the life he chose.

To excuse his behavior as though it was simply a pre-programmed result of his years as a child performer is not just intellectually lazy, it's an insult to every individual who has overcome true childhood hardship, deprivation and/or abuse to emerge as a functioning member of society.

Michael Jackson was no bobbing cork on the sea of circumstance - he was a multi-millionaire with the means to choose any lifestyle he wanted. "Functional adult" was one of the options. He chose otherwise.

Celebrate the music if you like, but for decency's sake, don't celebrate the man."

The dude was the biggest pop star in the world and his date to the Grammies that year was Emmanuel Lewis. No kidding. You can look it up. Jackson was mentally ill. He mutalated himself through numerous plastic surgeries and he was a pedifile. His childhood had nothing to do with it. Lots of kids have grown up as stars and not ended up as wierd as Jackson. He was a sad sick individual.

As far as the music goes, I never got it. It seemed like after he hit puberty he was never able to carry off the range and clarity he had with the Jackson Five. He never had a true adult voice and smooth vocal range the way say Marvin Gaye or Sam Cooke had. To overcome this, Quincy Jones brought his range down a bit and had him grunt in lieu of singing. His music was never as interesting or inventive as Prince. And his singing was never in the league of the great Motown stars. His success was the product of image and ability to do just the right dance (the Moonwalk) at just the right time (the Motown 25 special). The further we are removed from his freakdom and celbrity the more obvious it will become that the music just wasn't that great.

I've been checking out all the old videos, this morning - love the old stuff the best. First album I ever bought was a J5 album, though think his best was Off the Wall.

Rightwingprog - Jackson was essentially sold into a slave trade. Not literally, but about as close as one could have in the '60's. You can thank his dad and Berry Gordon. No, it doesn't excuse his behavior, but it does put it in context.

Like Tibore, God help me, back when they reported the heart attack but not the death, i told a coworker: "Geez, i hope he didn't collapse on the boy."

You know about two months ago, i was at a music store and saw the album thriller. i had never actually bought a copy of that one, and i was tempted to, but I thought, "Jesus, what would i be funding if i did?"

jonah goldberg i think captured my mixed feelings pretty well. of course we don't want to say too much bad about the dead, but let's be honest, he may have been acquitted, but he wasn't exhonerated, especially given that he apparently paid off the first accuser. and please don't tell me he couldn't have lived a normal life. of course he could have. I mean look at the other celebrity who died, Farrah Fawcett. maybe her life was never as normal as you and i enjoyed, but it seemed that there was alot more normalcy in her life. The fact is that his supposed damage was inflicted by being famous, something he could have easily stopped being, or at least dialed down on, years ago.

But it does make me think that the whole concept of child stars is a bad one. have they ever done a study to see how often they end up screwed up? i have at times thought that maybe we should ban children from working in entertainment.

Anyway, Michael you were good enough at music, especially early on, that i want to hope all the bad things they said about you weren't true. I will miss that part of you and hope that you find some kind of peace.

Well, I admit to being rather unmoved. I was never much into his stuff, though I thought his Thriller videos were pretty good (I was in college in the early '80s). I'm just not that into pop music (hard rock is my thang).

Plus he was a freakish adult. You can blame it on his childhood if you want, but the rest of his family, while a tad odd, aren't anywhere near that scale of freak-dom.

Reminds me of when Diana died and the airwaves were full of people decrying how haaaaard a life she had. Yes, I can see how only seeing your kids every six months when they have a vacation from boarding school and can pop over to your boyfriend's yacht in the Mediterranean can make one a tad bit distressed.

Far more people have had far worse childhoods and come out as far better human beings. So, RIP, but otherwise, eh, whatever.

Kathy wrote:Jackson was essentially sold into a slave trade. Not literally, but about as close as one could have in the '60's. You can thank his dad and Berry Gordon. No, it doesn't excuse his behavior, but it does put it in context.

A slave trade that left him with enough money to build an amusement park to live on and purchase the entire Beatles catalogue. That is some well paid slave labor!Cmon, it's hard to argue exploitation when by being exploited you become "The king of pop". Yes the music business was, and is cutthroat. But a slave trade?

makes me think of the pop up video version of this kid rock song, the one where he tries to sing slow and sensitive. the pop up notes that Kid Rock wanted to show how tough life was on the road. The next few scenes then showed him getting out a limo, into a private jet and into bed with two women, or something along those lines.

This all is one of the reasons why i respect Janet Jackson. i remember watching a behind the music or similar documentary on her, talking about how in making Control they really broke down her sense of entitlement and all of that. And ever since she has been the most down-to-earth jackson. if she could do it, why not her brother?

"Michael Jackson did not have a tragic childhood, nor did he have a tragic life.

He had the life he chose."

My understanding is that self-mutilation is a way for people who feel they don't have a choice, to chose, to take control over their own self.

"To excuse his behavior... "

No.

Saying "this may be why this happened" is not *excusing* behavior. Understanding is not excusing.

This is one place were we get so screwed up in our culture today. Because understanding really is so often the same thing as excusing, sometimes blatantly so. I'm not sure how that developed the way it has, but it has. And it cripples our ability to solve problems or correct error because a problem or error can't even be talked about and understood without being heard as excusing, as an excuse.

So is something an excuse or a reason? A reason doesn't excuse.

"I'm late because I got stuck in traffic" is an excuse.

"I'm late because I didn't give myself any extra time in case I hit traffic" is a reason, not an excuse.